Source: All England Reporter
Publisher Citation: [2001] All ER (D) 406 (Oct)
Court: Administrative Court
Judge:

Gage J
Representation Patrick O'Brien (instructed by Davies Blank Furniss) for D.
  Tina Landale (instructed by Crown Prosecution Service, Manchester) for the prosecution.
Judgment Dates: 26 October 2001

Catchwords

Criminal law - Trial of children and young persons - Persons under 17 - 12 year old boy charged with indecent assault - Deputy District Judge declining jurisdiction to hear case in youth court - Whether offence sufficiently grave to justify long custodial sentence - Whether decision of Deputy District Judge reasonable - Magistrate's Court Act 1980, s 24 - Powers of Criminal Court (Sentencing) Act 2000, s 91.

The Case

The effect of s24 of the Magistrates' Court Act 1980 was that a judge should not decline jurisdiction to hear a matter, unless there was more than a vague or theoretical possibility that a sentence of detention for a long period could be imposed. The primary purpose of s91 of the was to provide for sentences of detention exceeding two years. In other cases, detention and training orders were preferable. It was only in exceptional and restricted circumstances that a sentence of less than two years would be passed. The fact that an offender did not qualify for a detention and training order was not an exceptional circumstance sufficient to justify a period of detention for less than two years.

If you are a LexisLibrary subscriber you can read more about this case here.

Lexis®Library

  • The All England Law Reports comprises judgments with headnotes and catchwords indicating the area of law and key issues of the case prepared by legally qualified editorsFind AllER Reports
  • Cases related to this particular case that are related to, or discuss this caseView related cases
  • Commentary discussing this particular case from LexisLibrary's comprehensive range of titles including Butterworths, Halsbury's and TolleyView related commentary